A Matter Of Happiness
by MorningToYouTooSunshine
Summary: This is a Rose and Max story. It's kind of AU because Max is seeing Magnolia although they're not it and official relationship. Set sometime after 2x07. It's going to be just a couple of chapters, hope you like it:)
1. Chapter 1

That night there was the school play and Rose was walking down the main hall of the school with her friends. As Max saw her he tried to catch up with her.

"Hey Rose, wait up!" she turned around and raised a hand to greet his friend.

"Max, you here too?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to miss the chance to see you" he said with a smirk. Her cheeks turned into a bright red as she gave him a shy smile.

"I was thinking that maybe I could walk you home after the show?"

"Sure, see you later?"

"Okay, bye!"

As soon as Max was out of sight, Rose turned to her friends jumping with joy.

The game went on and Rose couldn't stop thinking about what happened. Did Max really want to spend time with her?

"Nice to see you again" she joked as they met after the show was over.

"Yeah... uh, shall we go?"

As they walked alongside one another an embarrassing silence fell upon them, until Max broke it.

"Do you have to be home soon? We could stay out for a bit longer if you want"

"Sure! No problem, I'm not in a hurry" she smiled.

After talking about school and sports and what else Max stopped and pointed at something in the horizon.

"See that bright dot? I think it's Mars, it's red"

Rose, who was next to him, observed the sky but she couldn't make out any red dot

"I don't see anything" he turned his head to look at her.

"Oh, that's because there's a tree that blocks your view" he slightly pulled back "here, come a little closer" she did as she was told.

They stood there, the girl trying to make out Mars, but still nothing. "Just a bit closer" Max told her, placing an arm behind her back "yeah, like that" he said, grinning.

They were really close now, his hand still pointed at the sky in front of them, Rose's hair caressing the boy's worked out chest. They were so close she could feel his heartbeat.

"Just a bit closer" as she turned to face him and saw a grin spreading on his lips, she understood.

"There's no Mars, it there?" she accused him, faking an angry face.

"Well, I wasn't lying, there really is a bright red dot... I just don't think it's Mars. Not that I care that much" his face was really close to hers now.

She opened her mouth to say something but then changed her mind.

"You know, I really shouldn't be doing any of this. I'm kind of seeing somebody. It's actually Magnolia" he confessed.

"I know" she smiled, trying to cover up the pain she felt as she heard the name of the boy's girlfriend. She had had a crush on him for almost 5 months.

* * *

"I should probably walk you home for real now, your parents will be waiting for you" Max told her, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"I don't think my parents will notice my absence, they're in the middle of a dinner with some friends. Anyway it's up to you" she looked at him smiling. She was really enjoying his company and didn't want him to go, not yet. They decided to head to where she lived.

"This is my house" she said as they arrived, even if she knew he knew perfectly that it was, since Bluebell was so small a city that everybody knew each other's house.  
"So... we could... you know, you could show me around" Rose laughed at his nervousness. It really seemed like he didn't want to leave her and that was a great thing, because she wanted him to stay some more time, too.  
They walked around the perimeter of the house and Max asked her to show him the window of her bedroom.

"Wow, it's on the ground floor! That means if I want to see you I can come here, maybe during the night, and knock at your window"

"Or you could use the main door like everyone else" she laughed still thinking about how cool it would be if in the middle of the night he showed up at her window to talk to her.

"I just don't want your father to answer at the door with an axe to throw at me"

"Yeah, that's a possibility" she realized that if someone knocked at the door at midnight her father's reaction would probably be something like that, "maybe you're right, the window's a definitely better choice, I wouldn't want to see you with and axe planted between your eyes!"

After a while they sat on a bench and talked about everything that came up in their minds and soon the cold of the night fell upon them.

"God, I'm cold!".

"Yeah, my hands are freezing" Max said as he put his hand a little under her shirt, touching her belly "see?" she startled at the cold touch and pushed his hand away.

"Jeez! My hands are a lot colder, anyway." she blurted out and extended her right hand for him to touch it. Max held it in his and she shivered, not because of the cold.

"My teeth chatter" He let go of her hand and brought his face closer to hers, showing his teeth with a beautiful smile.

"That's not true!" she laughed.

"It is!" he froze and stared at her. The girl felt a bit self-conscious as his hand rested on her thigh. He closed his eyes and moved closer.

Their lips touched, her hand rested on his cheek, they both shivered.

As they kissed Rose waited for the fireworks to explode, for the butterflies to upset her belly but she felt nothing like that. Every book she had read, every film she had watched, every friend mentioned them. Why was it that it didn't happen to her? All kinds of thoughts hit her: maybe he wasn't the right one; maybe she didn't like him as much as she thought; maybe she wasn't a good kisser; maybe...  
Maybe it was the fact that Max was seeing somebody else at the moment.  
She thought about it for a moment too long and the image of a very pissed Magnolia Breeland worked on her as a cold shower.

Max withdrew a bit, noticing something wasn't quite right. Didn't she like the kiss?

"I have to go now" Rose got up from the bench and run away, leaving the boy looking at her, puzzled.


	2. Chapter 2

"Rose!" she heard her mom call "I need you to go throw away the trash"

She sighed and got up. She went down the stairs where her mother was waiting with a garbage bag. The girl took it and faked a smile.

"Thanks" her mom walked back to the kitchen and Rose left the house.

Maybe the short walk outside would help her send away those painful thoughts about Max. Two weeks had passed since their kiss and she couldn't stop thinking about it. They talked about it the very next day and Max told her he was still hung up on Magnolia and he didn't want to hurt neither of them so it was better for them to forget it happened and just be friends. Rose obviously agreed, who is she to demand that max break with Magnolia? However, every time she thought about him, every time she wondered 'what if', it hurt, like, _a lot_.

As she hopped down the steps of the porch a raindrop fell on her arm, but she didn't bother going back inside to take an umbrella.

She heard ticking, like someone was playing with a metal bracelet, but when she looked around she couldn't make out anybody. She threw the rubbish in the bin and as she looked up again she noticed someone was sitting on a bench about 20 metres from where she was. That wasn't just any bench she realized as more raindrops began to fall from the sky. It was the bench Max and her had been on that night, two weeks before. As the memories of that beautiful night took control of her mind again, she quietly moved forward to take a closer look at the mysterious person. It was definitely young, probably a teenager boy. As she went closer, she was maybe ten metres from the guy who in the meantime still hadn't noticed her presence she spotted his short brown hair and the green shirt he was wearing, the one that looked so good on his toned body. She then understood who it was. Still she didn't dare approaching him any more so she decided to stay where she was.

"Max?" He rose his head at the sound of her voice calling him.

"Uh, hey, Rose" she clearly had caught him by surprise.

"What are you doing here?" She felt butterflies in her stomach. She swallowed but they didn't go away.

"Just hanging out..." He smiled awkwardly and stared at her for a long time before he stood up and slowly walked over to her. Meanwhile, more raindrops were falling. Rose looked up at the sky, then at him and there she saw a kind of spark in his green eyes.

"Actually" the football kicker took a deep breath to take courage "I come here every evening. I sit here... and hope you'll find me. I've been doing this thing since two weeks" the girl didn't need to think it through to understand that he meant he had been going there ever since that night they kissed. The only question running through her mind was...

"Why?"

Max just grinned shyly. He couldn't find the right words for what he had to say and that was a first. He'd always known how to talk to the girls he liked, even with Zoe. Well there is a first time for everything, they say.

" 'Cause..." He took a step forward so that he was standing right in front of her. Their eyes met and Rose felt chills up her spine. There was a pouring rain but neither of them seemed to notice. "Because whatever it was that I had going on with Magnolia is over, we broke up. I did. I mean, it was my fault... my decision. I broke-"

Max didn't even finish the line, he just grabbed the girl's hands and smiled.

"Does this mean what I think – hope – it means?" She grinned and looked at him hopefully. It was like a dream come true. The boy she liked so much was right in front of her, her hands in his, their eyes locked. He was telling her he was free. They could finally kiss out in public, for real, without feeling guilty; they could be together. He stared at her, his mouth open, but he couldn't seem to be able to speak.  
As words wouldn't come out, he ducked down a little bringing his head closer to hers and they kissed as raindrops fell on them. She waited for something to happen, but just like two weeks before, she felt no butterflies, no fireworks, nothing, and she was starting to freak out when Max put his hands on her face streaked from water droplets and as they kissed again, more passionately this time, Rose realized the only thing she felt was pure happiness. He pulled her into a sweet hug and she found herself smiling from ear to ear: she finally had the boy of her dreams. Max breathed deeply her scent and as he hugged her more tightly he couldn't help but smile, too.  
With time, they'd figure happiness was the best effect they could have on each other.


End file.
